Hearing device with wireless interface

ABSTRACT

There is provided a hearing device ( 10 ) comprising a BTLE 4.1 or higher wireless interface ( 20 ) and a control unit ( 38 ) for handling connectivity via the wireless interface to a plurality of client devices ( 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 54, 56 ) wherein the control unit is configured to direct the hearing device to transmit connectable advertising packets at least as long as less than N client devices are connected to the hearing device via a protected connection ( 30 ) and less than N+1 client devices are connected to the hearing device in total; wherein the control unit is further configured to prevent that the hearing device maintains sustained connections to more than N client devices at a time by disconnecting, if the hearing device is connected to N client devices via sustained connections and at least one of these connections is not a protected connection, one of the client devices connected via a not protected connection once a new sustained connection to a client device has been established in addition to the N connections, with N≥2.

The invention relates to a hearing device comprising a wirelessinterface for connecting to a plurality of client devices, such as aremote control, a fitting station, a smartphone, an audio streamingdevice or the second hearing device of a binaural system.

Ubiquitous electronic devices with wireless communication capabilitieslike smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and dedicated remote controldevices represent an opportunity in leveraging the benefit ofwireless-enabled hearing devices, such as hearing aids. Among the mostprominent use-cases are audio streaming, remote-control andstatus-monitoring. Ideally, a user may pick any one of his wirelessdevices and start interacting with his hearing aids, pick another oneand continue interaction with the second device and so forth.

A wireless protocol that matches particularly well the power-constraintsof hearing aids as well as the required communication range is BluetoothLow Energy (BTLE). Constraints of the BTLE protocol as well aspower-constraints make it difficult to both maintain connections betweena hearing device and multiple clients and to quickly respond to requestsoriginating from any of the connected clients.

US 2016/0088408 A1 relates to a way of how to deal with the constraintof BTLE 4.0 to a single connection per BTLE peripheral device in acontext where the BTLE protocol is intended to be used both to establisha binaural connection between hearing aids and to another client device,which is not a hearing device, like a streaming source or remotecontrol. It is suggested that one or both of an interconnected pair ofhearing devices transmits advertisements in order to announce theirpresence to client devices that may want to connect. Once a clientdevice requests connection to one of the hearing device, this hearingdevice would drop the binaural link such that both hearing device becomecapable of connecting to a client device. Once the client tears down theconnection to the hearing devices, they would re-establish the binauralconnection.

US 2015/0350766 A1 relates to a method for managing connections amongmultiple computing devices accessing a user device supporting only asingle connection. For this purpose, client devices need to interactamong each other such that a second client device instructs a firstclient device to disconnect from the user device in order to becomeavailable for a connection with the second client device. Such methodmay be used, for example, for alternatingly connecting a headset via aBT connection to a laptop or to a mobile phone, with the laptop and themobile phone coordinating with each other to achieve such switching ofthe BT connection.

Due to power consumption and, even more important, protocol schedulingconstraints, a hearing device typically supports only a limited numberof simultaneous connections to client devices such as remote controls,streaming devices or status display devices. A hearing device that isable to support a relatively large number of connections may beconstrained such that the more connections it needs to maintain the moreother capabilities exposed over this or another wireless interfacedegrade. For example, a wireless audio stream communicated over oneconnection may show an increasing number of dropouts the moresimultaneous additional wireless connections need to be serviced.

It is an object of the invention to provide for a hearing device whichallows for relatively user-convenient handling of connectivity of thehearing device to a plurality of client devices via a wirelessinterface. It is a further object to provide for a corresponding method.

According to the invention, these objects are achieved by a hearingdevice as defined in claim 1 and a method as defined in claim 33,respectively.

According to the invention the hearing device is provided with a BTLE4.1 or higher interface which is controlled in such a manner that thehearing device transmits connectable advertising packets at least aslong as less than N client devices are connected to the hearing devicevia a protected connection and less than N+1 client devices areconnected to the hearing device in total and that the hearing devicedisconnects, if the hearing device is connected to N client devices viasustained connections and at least one of these connections is not aprotected connection, one of the client devices connected to the hearingdevice via a not protected connection once a new sustained connection toa client device has been established, with N being a number equal to orgreater than 2. Thereby, it can be automatically ensured that thehearing device at any time is not connected to more than N clientdevices by sustained connections, so that the number of simultaneouslysustained connections can be kept relatively low, whereby interferencebetween simultaneous connections can be avoided or reduced, while stillconnectivity to a relatively large number of client devices can beoffered in a user-friendly manner.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependentclaims.

Hereinafter, examples of the invention will be illustrated by referenceto the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an example of a hearing device tobe used with the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example of a use situation of a hearingdevice with a plurality of client devices;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of another example of a use situation of abinaural hearing device system involving two different client devices,wherein each hearing device has a total capacity of N=2 sustainedconnections; and

FIG. 4 is an illustration of connection replacement example between ahearing device and various client devices, wherein the hearing devicehas a total capacity of N=3 sustained connections and U=1 connections ofclient devices in a “user mode”.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of a first hearing device 10 tobe worn at one ear of a user which typically is used together with asecond hearing device 11 to be worn at the other ear of the user. Thefirst and second hearing devices 10, 11 are ear level devices andtogether form a binaural hearing system. Preferably, the hearing devices10, 11 are hearing instruments, such as RIC (receiver in the canal), BTE(behind-the-ear), ITE (in-the-ear), ITC (in the canal) or CIC(completely-in-the-canal) hearing aids. However, the hearing devices,for example, also could be an auditory prosthesis, such as a cochlearimplant device comprising an implanted cochlear stimulator and anexternal sound processor which may be designed as a BTE unit with aheadpiece or as an integrated headpiece.

In the example of FIG. 1, the hearing devices 10, 11 are hearing aidscomprising a microphone arrangement 12 for capturing audio signals fromambient sound, an audio signal processing unit 14 for processing thecaptured audio signals and an electro-acoustic output transducer(loudspeaker) 16 for stimulation of the user's hearing according to theprocessed audio signals (these elements are shown in FIG. 1 only for thehearing aid 10). For example, the audio signal processing in the unit 14may include acoustic beamforming (in this case, the microphonearrangement 12 comprises at least two spaced apart microphones).

The hearing aids 10, 11 comprise a wireless interface 20 comprising anantenna 26 and a transceiver 28. The interface 20 is provided forenabling wireless data exchange between the first hearing aid 10 and thesecond hearing aid 11 via a wireless link 30B which serves to realize abinaural hearing assistance system, allowing the hearing aids 10, 11 toexchange audio signals and/or control data and status data, such as thepresent settings of the hearing aids 10, 11.

The interface 20 is also provided for data exchange via a wireless link30 from or to a client device 40, for example for receiving an audiodata stream from an external device acting as an audio source, or datafrom a remote control device.

The interface 20 services at least BTLE 4.1 or higher. In addition, theinterface 20 may service other protocols in time-multiplex within thesame frequency band (e.g. BT Classic+BTLE+proprietary protocols all in2.4 GHz band). Further, the hearing device 10 may even use protocols indifferent frequency bands, for which purposes additional wirelessinterfaces (not shown) may be provided.

The hearing aids 10, 11 also comprise a control unit 38 for controllingoperation of the hearing aids 10, 11, with the control unit 38 acting onthe signal processing unit 14 and the transceiver 28, and a memory 36for storing data required for operation of the hearing aid 10, 11 anddata required for operation of the interface 20, such as pairing/networkdata.

In particular, the control unit 38 is configured to handle connectivityof the hearing device 10 via the wireless interface 20 to a plurality ofclient devices, like the devices shown in FIG. 2, according to a givenset of rules. In the example of FIG. 2, the hearing device 10 isconnected via a sustained connection 30 to a first fitting station 42(which acts as one of the client devices), while other client devices, asmartphone 44, a telephone device 46, a media streamer 48, a remotecontrol 54, a tablet 56 and a second fitting station 50, may try toconnect with the hearing device 10 via connections 30A (shown in dashedlines in FIG. 2) which may be established as temporary or sustainedconnections upon request of the client device when accepted by thehearing device 10.

In case that the hearing device 10 is part of a binaural system with asecond hearing device 11, the binaural link between the devices 10 and11 may be an always protected connection, or it may use a separatewireless interface (i.e. separate from the wireless interface 20 usedfor connections to devices other than the second hearing device 11).

A sustained connection between the hearing device 10 and the respectiveclient device serves to exchange data between the devices so that thehearing device 10 is enabled to make use of the functionalities of therespective client device. By contrast, a temporary connection betweenthe hearing device 10 and the respective client device serves only forexchanging data for handling connectivity between the hearing device 10and the client devices; for example, a temporary connection may be usedfor requesting a sustained connection, for requesting protection of theconnection, and/or for identifying the client device as having a certainstatus, for example a “user mode client” or a “device of interest”, aswill be explained later.

The hearing device implements the roles of advertiser and peripheral forthe BTLE protocol (according to BTLE protocol a device taking aperipheral role is a device which sent an advertising event which wasanswered by a “central” device by a connection request). In particular,the hearing device acts as an advertiser by transmitting connectableadvertising packets at least as long as less than N client devices areconnected to the hearing device via a protected connection and less thanN+1 client devices are connected to the hearing device in total.

The hearing device may stop to transmit connectable advertising packetsif N external devices are connected to the hearing device via sustainedprotected connections, so that all protected connections can bemaintained while ensuring that no new connection is established as longas N protected connections are maintained, thereby limiting the numberof sustained connections of the hearing device to N (the hearing devicestops advertising or reverts to non-connectable advertising in order toprevent other client devices to request a new connection in addition tothe N sustained connections). Once there are less than N protectedsustained connections, the hearing device re-starts transmittingconnectable advertising packets.

According to an alternative embodiment, the hearing device may continuetransmitting connectable advertising packets even if there are already Nprotected sustained connections (so that an additional temporaryconnection is enabled); however, the hearing device in this case rejectsa sustained connection with such temporarily connected client device, sothat also in this case the number of sustained protected connections isactually limited to N (in BTLE rejecting/not accepting a connection by adevice transmitting connectable advertisements means disconnecting theclient device shortly after the client device has requested a connectionor not responding to any data channel PDU).

In case that the hearing device is connected to N client devices viasustained connections and at least one of these connections is not aprotected connection, a new temporary connection with a new clientdevice may be established (thereby increasing the number of totalconnections to N+1), and once the hearing device accepts the temporaryconnection to become a sustained connection, the hearing devicedisconnects one of the sustained connections which are not protected soas to limit the number of sustained connections to N. According to oneexample, the hearing device may stop connectable advertising once thereare N sustained connections plus one temporary connection (in suchsituation no additional client device should connect to the hearingdevice, since in addition to the N sustained connections there should beonly one temporary connection).

The attribute “protected” may be conferred to a connection by thehearing device either automatically or upon request by the clientdevice. For example, the hearing device may tag a connection asprotected as long as the connection serves a given purpose, such as theexchange of audio data, thereby ensuring that a connection is maintainedfor the entire duration of an audio transport. According to anotherexample, the hearing device may tag a connection as protected for agiven protection time period starting once the connection is establishedin order to ensure that the client device has sufficient time to sendinformation to the hearing device which is important for connectivityhandling by the hearing device. For example, during the protection timeperiod the client device has the opportunity to send a protectionrequest to the hearing device. Further, during the protection timeperiod the client device may send status information to the hearingdevice, such as information identifying the client device as a “deviceof interest” or as a “user client device”, as will be explained later.

According to one example, the hearing device rejects a sustainedconnection to a client device not paired with the hearing device whenthe hearing device is not in a pairable state. On the other hand, if thehearing device is in a pairable state, it may accept a sustainedconnection to a client device not paired with the hearing device if theclient device has identified itself as a device of interest within agiven identification time period (which may correspond to the protectiontime period mentioned above). A “device of interest” is a client deviceof a certain type, such as a remote control, a servicing device or anaudio source or audio sink; more generally, a device of interest is adevice which is known to be able to use the services offered by thehearing device or provides evidence that it is able to use the servicesoffered by the hearing device. Thus, a device of interest is allowed toaccess the hearing device during the entire extent of the pairable stateof the hearing device, but any other client devices, i.e. devices whichhave not identified themselves as a device of interest, will neitheroverwrite existing pairings on the hearing device nor consume resourcesover extended periods of time (i.e. periods of time extending theidentification time period).

According to one example, in a binaural pair of hearing devices whichmaintain a binaural data connection, one hearing device may continuouslytransmit advertisements, while its peer hearing device does not andtherefore saves resources. Once a client device connects to the hearingdevice, the hearing device instructs its peer hearing device totemporarily advertise in order to allow the same client device to alsoconnect to the peer hearing device. Once the newly connected clientdevice has also connected to the hearing device or a timeout haselapsed, the peer hearing device stops advertising.

According to one example, the hearing device may remove the pairing of aclient device once the client device is found to violate a predefinedset of rules in order to prevent that client device from excessive useof connection resources. For example, such predefined set of rules maybe the restriction that a client device of a given category/type mustnot attempt to (re-)connect more than a limited number of times within agiven time interval.

In the case in which the hearing device has already N sustainedconnections including at least one non-protected connection and a newsustained connection is to be established in addition to the N sustainedconnections, the hearing device may disconnect the least recentlyconnected client device having a non-protected connection;alternatively, the client device having the least recent interactionwith the hearing device may be disconnected (rather than the leastrecently connected client device).

FIG. 3 is an illustration of a use case wherein the maximum number ofsimultaneously supported sustained connections is N=2, wherein firstthere is a sustained connection 30 of the hearing device 10 to a firstclient device 44, with a second client device 56 being temporarilyconnected via a temporary connection 30A to the hearing device 10; inaddition, there is a protected sustained connection 30 to a secondhearing device 11 of a binaural hearing system. Once the hearing device10 accepts the second client device 56 for a sustained connection, thereis a conflict with the rule that there should be not more than N=2sustained connections for the hearing device 10, which conflict issolved by tearing down the sustained connection 30 to the first clientdevice 44.

While the above-described examples are particularly suitable for casesin which a hearing device is to be connected with several client devicesbelonging to a single user wherein the client device does not request aconnection unless triggered by an explicit user gesture (under theseconditions, the user is in control and is able to accept that an olderconnection is torn down for the sake of another client device on whichhe/she has just made a gesture on), a modified concept is required forcases in which client devices may autonomously (i.e. without arespective user gesture) connect with the hearing device. For example, aclient device may need to poll e.g. every 5 minutes for the batterylevel of the hearing device. In this case, without differentiatingbetween different types of client devices in connectivity handling, theuser, possibly using other client devices like a remote control, wouldbe spontaneously disconnected every 5 minutes by the polling clientdevice, which would likely become annoying to the user.

Such cases may be handled by differentiating between different types ofclient devices so as to define priorities among client devices. Suchconcept may be implemented by differentiating between “user clients” andautonomous clients”, wherein the hearing device associates one of theattributes “user mode client” and “autonomous mode client” with a(temporarily) connected client device, and by handling connectivity ofthe client devices in a manner depending on the attributes associatedwith the client devices. In some cases, the association of the attributewith a certain client device may be changed in the process of connectionpriority handling. Typically, a “user mode client” is a client devicewhich initiates a connection to the hearing device as a result of a usergesture on the client device, and an “autonomous mode client” is aclient device which initiates a connection to the hearing deviceaccording to a pre-programed scheme, i.e. an “autonomous mode client”tries to connect automatically to the hearing device.

The hearing device may associate the attribute “user mode client” with anewly (temporarily) connected client device if the client deviceidentifies itself as a user mode client within a predeterminedidentification time period (during that time period the temporaryconnection should be protected). The hearing device may associate theattribute “autonomous mode client” with the newly connected clientdevice if the client device fails to identify itself as a user modeclient within the identification time period.

The hearing device may accept a sustained connection with a newlyconnected client device irrespective of the attribute associated withthe client device if the hearing device presently maintains less than Nsustained connections. However, the hearing device may reject asustained connection with a newly connected client irrespective of itsattribute if the hearing device presently maintains N protectedsustained connections.

The hearing device may change the attribute of a client device connectedvia a sustained connection from “user mode client” to “autonomous modeclient” if the client device fails to interact with the hearing devicefor more than a predetermined interaction timeout time period, therebylowering the priority of substantially inactive devices.

Preferably, the hearing device is configured to maintain not more than Usustained connections with client devices associated with the attribute“user mode client”, wherein U is less than or equal to N (the maximumallowable number of sustained connections). “User mode clients” may begiven priority over “autonomous mode clients” according to the followingscheme. The hearing device will accept a sustained connection with anewly connected client associated with the attribute “user mode client”only if there are presently not more than U sustained connections withclient devices associated with the attribute “user mode client”. If thisnewly accepted sustained connection would make in the number ofsustained connections increase above N, the hearing device woulddisconnect the least recently connected (or least recently active)client device associated with the attribute (autonomous mode client).Further, if the newly accepted sustained connection would make thenumber of sustained connections with client devices having the attribute“user mode client” increase above U, the hearing device would change theattribute of the least recently connected (or least recently active)client device associated with the attribute “user mode client” to“autonomous mode client”.

In case that there are presently N sustained connections with clientdevices and at least one of these client devices is associated with theattribute “autonomous mode client”, the hearing device would accept asustained connection with a newly connected client device associatedwith the attribute “autonomous mode client” and would disconnect theleast recently connected (or least recently active) one of the clientdevices associated with the attribute “autonomous mode client” afteracceptance of the new sustained connection.

However, if among the N sustained connections there is no connection toa client device with the attribute “autonomous mode client” (i.e. if allclient devices are “user mode clients”), the hearing device would rejecta sustained connection with a newly connected client device associatedwith the attribute “autonomous mode client”.

According to one example, the hearing device may disconnect a clientdevice having the attribute “autonomous mode client” if there was noexchange of control information, i.e. if there was no interaction, formore than a predetermined control information exchange timeout timeperiod.

Hereinafter an example for the case N=2 and U=2 will be described. In aninitial state, a hearing device may be connected via a sustainedprotected connection to another hearing device of a binaural hearingsystem (as a user mode client) and a sustained connection to a remotecontrol application RCA1 running on a client device which is an“autonomous mode client”, wherein RCA1 polls regularly for the batterystatus of the hearing device and updates the display of the batterystatus accordingly. The user of the hearing device then may launch aremote control application RCA2 running on another paired client device,such as a tablet, with RCA2 attempting thereupon to connect to thehearing device as a “user mode client”. Since N=2 and U=2, the hearingdevice will grant priority to RCA2 over RCA1 and accordingly willdisconnect from RCA1 (user mode clients are preferred over autonomousmode clients). While RCA2 is connected as a “user mode client” (i.e. aslong as the user keeps using RCA2), the hearing device rejectsreconnection attempts from RCA1 (because N=2 and “user mode clients”have priority over “autonomous mode clients”), so that RCA1 willaccordingly fail to update its displayed battery status. While thehearing device is connected to RCA2 as a “user mode client”, the usermay launch a remote control application RCA3 on a third paired clientdevice, such as a smartphone. Since newly requested connections of “usermode clients” have priority over any existing connection, the hearingdevice will disconnect from RCA2 and will connect to RCA3 as a “usermode client”. Once the user will exit RCA3 (or when RCA3 enters ascreensaver mode, i.e. when RCA3 is no longer active), the hearingdevice will disconnect from RCA3, so that later, when another clientdevice, such as RCA4 or RCA1, tries to connect as an “autonomous modeclient” for a battery status update, the hearing device will accept theconnection and the newly connected client device will be able to displaythe battery status.

Thus, the hearing device is able to service several autonomously pollingdevices as well as several user initiated services while not using morethan one sustained connection and not having the user interrupted by anautonomous client device request.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a similar use example, however, with N=3and U=1, wherein each three-fold box represents the connectivity statusof the hearing device at a given point in time, “+A(UM)” indicates thata client device A requests connection as a “user mode client” and“+D(AM)” indicates that a client device D requests connection as an“autonomous mode client”; “A(UM)” in a box indicates that the hearingdevice is presently connected to client device A as a “user modeclient”, etc.

According to one embodiment, the hearing device may insert additionalinformation in its advertisements concerning the status of the hearingdevice.

For example, the hearing device may include in its advertisementsinformation indicating free connection capacity of the hearing device,such as in case that the hearing device presently is connected by lessthan N sustained connections or there are N sustained connections butnot all of them are protected, etc. Such concept could be used as analternative or an extension to the above concept of differentiating theclient devices by attributes like “user mode client” and “autonomousmode client”. In this case, for example, a polling client device wouldattempt to connect to the hearing device only when the polling clientdevice is aware from the free connection information that the hearingdevice is able to support an additional connection.

Examples for other status information, in particular status changeinformation, may be: the state of a local user control (e.g. a button)has changed (e.g. the button has been pressed or released); the hearingdevice is ready or not ready to accept an audio stream over a wirelessconnection, wherein the inserted information may contain an identifiercharacterizing the type or priority of an audio stream that may beaccepted (such identifier may, for example, refer to classes like“telephony”, “TV audio”, “media audio”, “navigation information”,“public announcement”, and “advertisements”.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A hearing device comprising a wirelessinterface and a control unit for handling connectivity via the wirelessinterface to a plurality of client devices, wherein the control unit isconfigured to direct the hearing device to limit the number ofconnections between the hearing device and client devices to N, whereinN>2, by disconnecting a client device every time an N+1 client deviceestablishes a connection where the number N is referred to as sustainedconnections and any additional connection exceeding the number N isreferred to as temporary connection, wherein the control unit is furtherconfigured to direct the hearing device to transmit connectableadvertising packets as long as less than N client devices are connectedto the hearing device.
 2. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein thecontrol unit is configured to reject a sustained connection with atemporarily connected client device.
 3. The hearing device of claim 1,wherein the control unit is configured to tag a connection to a clientdevice as protected as long as the connection serves a purpose.
 4. Thehearing device of claim 3, wherein the control unit is configured to taga connection to a client device as protected as long as the connectionserves to exchange audio data.
 5. The hearing device of claim 1, whereinthe control unit is configured to tag a connection to a client device asprotected for a given protection time period starting once theconnection is established.
 6. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein thecontrol unit is configured to tag a connection to a client device asprotected upon a protection request from the client device.
 7. Thehearing device of claim 6, wherein the control unit is configured toreject a connection to a client device not paired with the hearingdevice when the hearing device is not in a pairable state.
 8. Thehearing device of claim 1, wherein the control unit is configured toaccept a sustained connection to a client device not paired with thehearing device if the hearing device is in a pairable state and theclient device has identified itself as a device of interest within agiven identification time period, wherein a device of interest is aclient device of a certain type.
 9. The hearing device of claim 8,wherein a device of interest is a remote control, a servicing device oran audio source or sink.
 10. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein thecontrol unit is (30) configured to remove the pairing of a client device(40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 54, 56) with the hearing device (10) once theclient device is found by the control unit (38) to violate a predefinedset of rules.
 11. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the controlunit is configured to disconnect the least recently connected clientdevice having a not protected connection if N client devices have asustained connection with the hearing device and a new sustainedconnection to a client device is to be established in addition to the Nsustained connections.
 12. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein thecontrol unit is configured to direct the hearing device to include inits advertising information indicating free connection capacity if thehearing device is presently able to accept at least one new connection.13. The hearing device of claim 1, wherein the control unit isconfigured to associate one of the attributes “user mode client” and“autonomous mode client” with a connected client device and to handleconnectivity of the client devices in a manner depending on theattributes associated with the client devices.
 14. The hearing device ofclaim 13, wherein the control unit is configured to associate theattribute “user mode client” with a connected client device if theclient device identifies itself as a “user mode client” within apredetermined identification time period.
 15. The hearing device ofclaim 13, wherein the control unit is configured to associate theattribute “autonomous mode client” with a newly connected client deviceif the client device fails to identify itself as a “user mode client”within a predetermined identification time period.
 16. A method ofhandling connectivity of a hearing device comprising a wirelessinterface via the wireless interface to a plurality of client devices,comprising: transmitting connectable advertising packets from thehearing device as long as less than N client devices are connected tothe hearing device via a protected connection and less than N+1 clientdevices are connected to the hearing device in total; and preventing thehearing device from maintaining sustained connections to more than Nclient devices at a time by disconnecting, if the hearing device isconnected to N client devices via sustained connections and at least oneof these connections is not a protected connection, one of the clientdevices connected via a not protected connection once a new sustainedconnection to a client device has been established in addition to the Nconnections, wherein N≥2.
 17. The method of claim 16, the method furthercomprising: determining to disconnect a client device once N+1connections are established from an ordered list of all N+1 connectedclient devices, wherein the list consists of a subset of protecteddevices that are not candidates for disconnection and a subset of otherdevices that are ordered according to priority where the client devicewith lowest priority is selected as the one to be disconnected based oncriteria, wherein the criteria to tag devices as protected is at leastone of the following: client devices that the hearing device isexchanging audio data with, client devices with that the time since theconnection has not yet reached a protection time threshold, clientdevices that were explicitly designated by a protection request andwhere criteria for priority ordering of non-protected devices arearbitrary or the time since establishment of the connection givinghigher priority to more recent connections or whether a device is pairedwith the hearing device or not giving higher priority to paired deviceswhen the hearing device is not in pairable state or the time since thelast application-level interaction where the client device with the mostrecent interaction is given priority or whether a client device hasidentified itself as a client device of interest or a user mode client.